Part 5: Scrapbook Planning

Like most craft projects, scrapbooking breaks down into a number of steps. The first part of the process involves planning. We’ll get to the actual creation in the next part.

Before writing the original article “Scrapbook of Shadows,” Michelle Benedicta did some careful research. She sent out surveys to over three thousand people on five different scrapbooking mailing lists. She asked them for advice for the rank newbie, and particularly, what mistakes they wished they could have avoided. Their feedback, along with her years of scrapping experience, can help you dip your toes into this extremely large pool. So here’s how to get started…

1)Choose a structure. Before you even consider buying an album, think about what your scrapbook should encompass. (If you intend to do multiple books, start with just one.) Festivals you’ve attended? Covens or other groups you’ve gotten involved with? Rituals you’ve designed or participated in? Your ideas and philosophies? Your entire magical/spiritual history? Your genealogy and family heritage? This becomes the theme of your scrapbook.

Decide if your scrapbook will be a history book or just an archive. Will you tell your entire story and include pages for which you have no specific items, or will your scrapbook primarily serve as a repository of actual items you’ve collected? Both approaches have pros and cons, and you should decide based on how much work you want to do … and how much work you need to do. If you have a lot of items to organize, just getting those into a stable environment and properly labeled and documented may be a job and a half itself. But if what you want is an entire Book of Your Pagan Journey and History, then you need to include pages or sections on each step of the path, whether you have physical items and photos to scrap or not.

Now is also a good time to decide exactly how archival you want your scrapbook to be. Most memorabilia is not produced on archival paper and is not PVC-, lignin-, and acid-free. Placing these items in an archival environment will help them last decades longer than sitting in a box, but they themselves still have acid, lignin, and PVC in them. Some scrappers enjoy the artistic challenge of using sewing notions like buttons and ribbon on their pages – items that may not be archival. (These are often called “lumpy-bumpy” scrapbooks, as the objects prevent the album from closing flat.) Using page protectors and mats of buffered paper to keep photos from touching non-archival elements helps to preserve your photos, but some scrappers choose to stay extra safe and include only items labeled as archival-quality in their photo scrapbooks. Michelle Benedicta prefers to include everything in her albums, but she makes sure her scrapbook supplies (paper, embellishments, glue) are archival quality. I myself make both archival and non-archival pages, but not for the same album.

2) Collect and sort items. Gather photos and memorabilia that fit the scrapbook's theme(s) into one area. A craft table or entire room where your work in progress can sit out for long periods is ideal, but a box or tote bag used for storage and tucked away between craft sessions may prove more practical. You can buy cheap organizers and other simple storage items, or elaborate divided cases for all kinds of tools and supplies.

As you collect items, create separate categories – and here’s where your planning comes in handy – such as "Samhain 2010" or “My French Ancestors.” Sort your photos and memorabilia into those categories. Broader categories can also break down into sub-groups; each sub-group will become its own page(s) or even sections in the scrapbook. So you might break “Samhain 2010” into “The Feast” and “The Ritual.” Use your originals or make copies of photos, either new prints or color photocopies. You can also scan documents and photos to print copies just for scrapbooks, if the originals are not suitable for scrapping or you don’t want to damage them.

If you’ve decided to include themes for which you have no specific items (for example, “Why I Am a Witch,” “Family Mysteries,” or “A Study of Pentacles”) then think about how you could document or illustrate those sections. Will other, non-specific photos contribute to the story? Will copies of photos or mementos already designated for other spreads support the theme? Or perhaps items not theme-specific would work – calendar pages and postcards with magical artwork, drawings or embellishments selected specifically for the theme, color copies of book jackets that were instrumental in your journey. Many scrappers also flesh out thin categories by going out later and taking photos specifically intended to illustrate a scrapbook theme.

Inexpensive page protectors and three-ring binders make great organizational tools and temporary storage (for long-term storage, spend a little more on PVC-free items) of your work in progress. Most scrapbook pages hold from one to six photos, depending on size of page and amount of photo cropping. Keep in mind that including memorabilia will change the page composition and leftover space available for embellishments and journaling. Have a blank scrapbook page of your preferred size in front of you and temporarily place your items against the page to see how much fits and how you might like to arrange it all. Slip items and photos for each page into a page protector, and store the sleeves in a three-ring binder.

3) Brainstorm arrangements. When you’ve got a good number of filled page protectors, and something of a grip on the scope of your items and what the finished scrapbook will encompass, the time is right to brainstorm for specific layouts. Arrange your sleeves in the work-in-progress binder somewhat in the order you’d like them to appear in the scrapbook. Take a piece of scratch paper and write a label or category title for the first grouping. Take notes on what is happening in the pictures, what these items are, and why they are important. Include who, what, when, where, and why. Jot down how the items or theme make you feel, ideas for colors to use, and any other information. This sheet will be the basis for later creating the page.

If you’ve succumbed to the lure of shopping before getting to this point, go through your stash of supplies and pull paper or embellishments to use on the page. Slip the items into the sleeve. Now you’re creating a pagekit. Since most standard page protectors are 8½ x 11” in size, if you scrap 12 x 12” pages you can’t put the paper in the sleeve, but you can still pull it from your stash and start creating a pile just for this project. (A clean, new pizza box from your local pizzeria makes great temporary storage for 12 x 12” paper. You can also buy giant plastic envelope-type containers at a craft store.) Use another piece of scratch paper and start creating a shopping list – include the colors and themes of items you think would work.

When you’re done with the first page kit, slip your notes into the sleeve with the items and move on to the next page protector. Keep adding to your shopping list as you go along. If you’ve decided to include themes for which you have no photos or memorabilia, create page kits for those layouts as well – even if all you have is a piece of paper with notes written on it. Then slip those sleeves into place in the binder.

4) Shop for necessary tools and supplies. Even if you already own heaps of scrapbook materials, you’ll always need something to make that layout just right. By now you’ll have a list of possible themes and colors to use. Though specifically magical or Pagan-themed items are not billed as such, they do exist. Nature-themed items abound – flowers, vines, trees, animals, even entire eco-systems on background papers and stickers. Celestial items are very popular, with all sorts of suns, moons, and stars available in every kind of embellishment. Fantasy sections feature fairies, dragons, medieval scenes, and even magical tools. Disney has a line of papers and embellishments, most with magical images. Holiday sections, like Halloween and Christmas, feature pointy hats and brooms, holly berries, and lit candles.

Genealogy is very popular among scrapbookers; look in the heritage aisle. And don’t miss the travel section! It has paper printed with such things as Irish castles, the Grand Canyon, and entire prairies; diecuts of Viking ships, Japanese samurais and Egyptian pharaohs; and stickers galore.

Use your shopping list as a guide to make sure that what you buy is what you will use. Some stores may let you bring your entire work-in-progress binder and leave it open on one of their classroom worktables, while you bring items back to see if they will match. Larger stores are cheaper than the local scrapbook store, but generally only offer items in bulk, so if you need just one sticker you have to buy a whole package. Use the staff at the scrapbook store as your resource -- if they are avid scrappers then they probably have tried almost every tool and kind of embellishment their store carries, plus more.

A few words of shopping advice: Many scrappers prefer albums done all in two-page spreads. So if you see a paper pattern you love, pick up enough sheets for all the pages on which you want to use it. If you’ve done your planning, you’ll already know whether you’ll have six pages in a section, or one. Also, most scrappers advocate matting or framing almost all your items to make them pop off the page. So when you find that wonderful watercolor-printed paper, pick up coordinating cardstock at the same time to use with it later.

Now you’re done with the planning and ready for the actual scrapping!

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